Shoe cleaning device



May 6, 1958' J. M. TROYER 2 ,832,979 SHOE CLEANING DEVICE Filed Oct. 15. 1956 F 22 i 32 46 O E3 h g 5 wt- *1" g 7* 58 J 3b i ,4 3; II "ET/6'2 g 9? 9/ 0 /0 WHUM/HUM ii 12 John M. Tro yer IN V EN TOR.

BY MWWEMQF.

United States Patent 9 SHOE CLEANING DEVICE John M. Troyer, Millersburg, Ind.

Application October 15, 1956, Serial No. 615,875 1 Claim. (Cl. 15--112) This invention relates to a simple, practical and efficient device having means embodied therein whereby a user thereof may scrape, brush and otherwise clean dirt and mud from his shoes in a now generally well known manner.

As is clear, having read the introductory statement of the nature of the invention, shoe sole mud scraping and brushing appliances and devices are not, of course, new. As a matter of fact, a survey of the art to which the invention relates will confirm that it is old in the art to appropriate a base, to attach the same to a doorstep, porch platform or elsewhere, and to equip it with a scraping edge and one or more shoe cleaning brushes.

It follows that it is an obvious objective in the instant matter to structurally, functionally and otherwise improve upon similarly constructed and performing prior art scraping and brushing devices for use at ones home and particularly at the entrances of schools and classrooms and, in so doing, to provide a contribution to the art in which manufacturers will find their manufacturing requirements and economies met, and parents, teachers and children will find their shoe clean-up needs satisfactorily met.

Stated somewhat more specifically, novelty is predicated on a base which takes the form of a simple angle iron with one flange to be fastened to a foundation, the other flange having its upper edge serving as a sole scraping edge. A bracket is secured to one end of the base and rises therefrom and supports a relatively stationary brush above the scraping edge. A similar bracket serves to accommodatingly support an opposed brush, also above the scraping edge and in approximate parallelism with the first named brush, means being provided to movably and adjustably mount the second brush in order that the brushes together may function to satisfactorily accomplish the desired shoe cleaning job.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Fig. l is an elevational view of a shoe cleaning device constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and ready for use;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a section on the slightly irregular vertical line 33 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the pivoted 'lower end portion of the adjusting and retaining lever.

Referring now to the drawings, the fixture which is used as the primary support means is described here as a base and is denoted by the numeral 6. More specifically, it comprises a simple angle iron having a horizontal flange 8 provided with screw holes 10 to accommodate screws or equivalent fasteners 12 whereby said flange may be secured to a foundation, for example a floor, concrete walkway or the like 14. When the base is fixed in place the upper edge of the then existing vertical flange 14 provides a shoe sole scraping edge. It will be noticed in this connection that the right hand end portion of the flange 14 has an inwardly disposed elongate horizontal slot 16 and an outwardly disposed slightly arcuate slot 18.

The first brush at the left is denoted by the numeral 20 and comprises a backing 22 having bristles 24 and the entire brush is fixedly supported in a plane above the scraping edge of the flange 14. This is accomplished through the use of the simple attaching bracket here denoted by the numeral 26. The bracket is made up of a pair of metal straps which are rigid and secured together to form a sort of a shank and the upper ends 23 are bent outwardly and suitably twisted to provide attaching ears which are fastened as at 3% to the backing 22. The second and relatively movable brush is denoted by the numeral 32 and it too has a backing 34 with bristles 36. The two brushes are horizontally elongated and are opposed to each other so that the bristles 24 and 36 confront one another. A similar attaching bracket 38 is employed for mounting the brush 32. Here again this comprises strip members which are welded or otherwise secured together making up a unitary bracket. The strip members are located one on each side of the flange 14 and are provided at their lower ends with a headed rivet 40 which is keyed in and slidable back and forth in the slot 16. The upper ends of the strip members are directed in opposite directions and twisted to provide attaching ears 42 which are fastened to the backing as at 44. The numeral 46 designates a kick member for adjusting the movable brush. More specifically this is a linearly straight lever which is also located on one side surface of the flange 14. It is hingedly mounted and anchored in place at its lower end on the flange as denoted at 48. Above this the lever is provided with a spring pressed bolt and nut assembly with the bolt generally denoted at 56 and having its shank extending through and adjustable in the arcuate slot 18. Between the pivot 43 and the assembling and adjusting bolt 50 an edge portion of the lever is provided with a stuck-out tongue (Fig. 4) which is denoted at 52 and which constitutes a detent and is selectively and adjustably engageable with rack teeth 56 on the surface of the flange 14 in the manner shown at the right in Fig. 1. An ad justing link 58 is provided and one end is riveted as at 60 to the upper end of the bracket 33. The other or outer end is pivotally connected as at 62 to the intermediate portion of the kick lever. Consequently, one may adjust the lever by hand or foot so that it springs either left or right in relation to Fig. 1 of the drawings and the spring biased bolt means will serve to releasably engage the detent 52 with one of the teeth 54 whereby to hold the lever in its given position. It follows that it is an easy matter to kick the adjustable brush 32 either to the right or left so as to regulate the space between the bristles of the brushes and to accommodate shoes of varying sizes.

With this simple and practical mechanical device one may do a highly satisfactory job of cleaning mud and dirt from the shoes, especially before entering the house, schoolroom or elsewhere.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all siutable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A shoe cleaning device comprising a base in the form of an angle iron having a horizontal flange which is adapted to be anchored on a foundation and having a vertical flange whose upper edge constitutes a scraping edge, a first bristle-equipped brush, a bracket fixed to the backing of said brush and also fixed to the vertical flange :1 in amanner 'to maintainthe-bristles in a blame above the scraping edge at one end of said edge, a second bristleequipped brush also situated above said scraping edge and opposed to the first named brush and provided with a fixedly mounted bracket depending therefrom and superimposed against one surface of said vertical flange and havingaheaded rivet adustably mounted ina' slot provided therefor in said 'vertical flange,a lever also'supen edge and provided above said scraping edge with a :hingedly mounted adjusting link, said link being fixedly V secured tosaid second named bracket, said verticalflange being provided with anarcuate rack having rack teeth and said lever being. provided with a lateral detent selectively engageable with said teeth, said vertical flange having an arcuate slot and said lever having a spring-equipped assembling and retaining bolt operable in said arcuate slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 933,303 Hatfiel d Sept. 7, 1909 1,536,963 Moore May 5, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS 222,054 Great Britain Apr. 30, 1924 

